Blackstone Backs Cybersecurity Startup’s $100M Round

Cylance, a cybersecurity startup that utilizes artificial intelligence algorithms to detect and mitigate malware threats, announced on Wednesday (June 8) that it secured a $100 million Series D funding round.

The round was led by funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Insight Venture Partners, along with participation from the company’s existing investors.

Cylance confirmed its new capital will be used to expand sales, marketing and engineering initiatives to support the company’s endpoint protection go-to-market strategies.

“We founded Cylance almost four years ago with a singular mission: protect those who cannot protect themselves, and empower those who can,” Cylance CEO Stuart McClure said in a press release. “Our goal of reinventing endpoint security by using machine learning to think like a cyberhacker has been achieved, and we now must ensure that it is put in the hands of security leaders inside enterprises, organizations, governments and small businesses as quickly as possible.”

The CylancePROTECT solution is said to be actively protecting millions of endpoints across more than 1,000 customers from never-before-seen attacks. The product is designed to to identify and prevent zero-days and help protect customers from having to deal with the downtime, distraction and brand tarnishing that comes with these attacks.

“We have been tracking Cylance since they came to market and are thrilled to be partnering with them,” Mike Triplett, managing director at Insight Venture Partners, explained. “Cylance’s team and technology have delivered on exactly what they’ve promised: elegant and effective prevention at the endpoint, in addition to impressive customers and growth.”